Update May 22, 2012
A colleague from my KPMG days and a loyal blog follower mentioned that you can book private tours with the Toronto Preservation Society for a mere $10 per person. And because they are private, you can customize them! Now that’s a deal if I’ve ever heard one!
The month of April kicked off Heritage Toronto‘s wonderful guided walks in the Big Smoke with historical tours to commemorate the Bicentennial Anniversary of the war of 1812 (just HAD to mention that for my American friends!). JT and I have enjoyed their informative tours over the years and this past Saturday we decided to enjoy yet another through Cabbagetown North (according to the New York Times, Cabbagetown has the largest concentration of Victorian homes in North America. See Footnote #1). The weather was a bit crisp with the occasional gust of chilly wind, but the sun was shining (for the most part. Read proper shoes and coat) and dressed appropriately, it was absolutely lovely.
We started out at the corner of Wellesley Street East and Parliament Street at a corner neighbourhood park; over fifty people had the same idea, but they were very well prepared and divided the group into five troupes, each lead by one of their wonderful and informative guides. We choose Christopher, and boy are we glad we did! Christopher lives in the hood in one of the cutest cottages, but I’ll get to that shortly.
The history of Cabbagetown began in the 1800s during the potato famine in Ireland when hundreds of Irish labourers immigrated to Toronto and set up homes in the North East part as it was quite a way outside the city and rather inexpensive. It became known as Cabbagetown because the immigrant Irish discovered that our growing season was much shorter than what they were used to and had to plant vegetables that would store well in the winter; potatoes were planted close to the house, then turnip and finally cabbages were planted directly by the sidewalk/road (their gardens were at the front of their homes, the backs were commerce). As Toronto’s economy grew, a variety of middle to upper middle-class moved into the area making Cabbagetown a wonderful mix of small cottages, Grand Victorian and Edwardian home (and the odd eye sore built in the 1970’s).
In 1851, during the Great Exhibition (Crystal Palace Exhibition) in London (now known as the World’s Fare) Prince Albert (husband of Queen Victoria) who had a keen interest in affordable housing for the poor held a contest for architects to create a particular housing style that was affordable, easy to build with a relatively small footprint that could be used throughout the Commonwealth. William Hooker won the contest with his plan for the Victorian Cottage (apparently seen throughout the Commonwealth, even today!) (Source #2). The cottages were basically four 3m x 3m rooms (10′ x 10′).
After decades of neglect and various degrees of derelict, the neighbourhood started coming alive with young families began buying up the lots and rennovating (some with more taste than others) and so in 1989 the Cabbagetown Preservation Association (CPA) was born to preserve the architectural integrity and historic character of the Cabbagetown neighbourhood in Toronto. To attain a building permit in this historical area, one must not only get the City to approve the plans, but by law, the Cabbagetown Preservation Association must also approve. The CPA takes this very seriously.
So let’s get to the good stuff.
Our first stop was a grand Victorian built by Thomas Harris in the Queen Ann style. Thomas Harris owned a stone cutting firm and decorated his home with the splendor of his business as a kind of billboard. This used to be a rooming house and was recently painstakingly and with considerable expense renovated back to its glory as a single family home.
Even in those days there were builders buying up plots of land and speculating with residential properties. The row houses on Wellesley Cottage Lane are labourers’ cottages “built in 1886-1887 by William Hooker from the plans that won him the architectural award in 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition in London” (Source #1). What’s interesting about this street is that it is a private street (one of three in this area, if memory serves), not owned by the City of Toronto, but by the residents of that street. They are responsible for the maintenance and care from sewage backups to snow shoveling services in the winter (I had no idea we had private streets in Toronto, and I’ve lived here all my life).
The cottages have all been significantly renovated, with enormous additions in the back.
I do hope you enjoyed your tour of North Cabbagetown Toronto. I would encourage you to seek out your own Historical or Heritage Societies within your own cities. Often these tours are free, or simply what you can afford and they are always exceptional (no disgruntled students just hammering out the details in a monotone voice). The guides are often retired school teachers, professors or just people with a real passion for their neighbourhoods.
Now I must ask you, have you ever been on an historical tour of your own city? And if so, what did you enjoy most about it?
Source #1: Heritage Toronto Walks Cabbagetown North pamphlet.
Source #2: Christopher, our Heritage Toronto Walks guide.
[…] An Historical Walk Through Toronto’s Cabbagetown District […]
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Hi Eva, Thanks so much for this post. Kevin and I love Cabbagetown (we go to Riverdale Farm with Rowan a lot!) and so I followed the links on your blog post and arranged for a private tour for just Kevin and I for his birthday yesterday. The tour was pretty similar to yours so we ended up seeing a lot of the same things you guys did – and it was awesome! It was a gorgeous day, perfect for walking around the area with a guide showing us all the cute little spots and beautiful homes. Thanks again – your post was great inspiration and helped make Kev’s birthday really wonderful. Did you see the “hidden gardens” tour they’re offering on June 3?
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Wow, that’s wonderful Michela, I’m so glad you and Kevin found my blog helpful and that you enjoyed your private walking tour. So often we neglect these small joys of our own cities because we have all the time in the world to do them, but we never get around to it. JT and I have the hidden gardens tour and a Junction tour bookmarked for June 10!
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Really enjoyed this post. It is so nice to learn more about another part of the world and your photos and writing are a pleasure to read-so glad I discovered your blog! Ps-the bit on the ‘hideous house’ was fascinating…
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Thanks you Green Dragonette, I am very flattered you think so. Hope to see you soon again. I’m going to check out your blog now.
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Wow, Cabbage Town is beautiful! I will have to make a point of exploring this area the next time I’m in T.O.
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Thanks Amber, we had a good time on this tour.
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What a wonderful and informative tour, Eva. And I love the diversity of your photos in terms of showing styles of homes with the history and renno info, and some interesting side points like the fountain and your artsy photos! We live in one of the many historic districts in Atlanta, and there is also a Cabbagetown area in Atlanta, which is historic and was originally inhabited by mill workers I believe. It is still being renewed, and I am not sure why it is called Cabbagetown…but now I must look it up and see what it’s true history is….thanks to your post!
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We were in Atlanta once about 16 years ago (around this time of year). I loved that underground area as well as Buckhead (we went to a great Brunch place). Its a great city with a lot of history, I can see why you enjoy living there, Betsy.
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Congrats my friend, I have awarded you the Versatile Blogger Award today đŸ˜€
You deserve it!
Check it out here: http://gobakeyourself.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/vanilla-maple-caramel-popcorn-my-guest-post/
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thanks Eva for the tour. My dad is an architect and I have special feeling toward houses. It’s a lot of fun for me to take a look at houses and this could be a great tour for myself! Thanks for sharing – one day I want to be in Toronto!
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Lovely photos Eva – I loved reading about how it got its name especially… that’s so cool. I don’t think it would be up my street, living in such a neighbourhood, but it looks like a fascinating place to tour!
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Thanks Charles, I like the idea of this neighbourhood being such a community, but it’s probably a little too Victorian and Birkenstock for me as well. It is quite lovely to know we have such diverse nieghbourhoods a relatively short distance from our home.
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I love this, great photos Eva! I’ve always had a weird obsession with brick buildings…maybe because I’m from the Midwest and grew up in a brick house in Ohio? Who knows, but all of these buildings are gorgeous. I hope to make it to Toronto in the very near future!
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What an interesting tour! And I had no idea that you could build around a house and then demolish it afterwards. How perfectly conniving!
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Hi Lorraine, they are really not supposed to, they skirted the law! And I’m sure they could do it again, sadly.
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This looks like so much fun Eva! I love architecture and especially the history associated with styles of homes. I used to be a tour guide at the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio here. I just love this kind of stuff and am all about history tours like this. Now I have another thing to add to my list the next time we’re in Toronto! đŸ™‚
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Hi Kristy, we’ve been wanting to take that your in Chicago for a really long time; hope to do it soon. It’s a really fun way to get to know your city,
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You live in such a pretty place. I’d take that “little” house.
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Thanks Greg, our hood is much different than Cabbagetown; we have more craftsman-style homes! We hoping to do another tour in June just north of us!
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It was fun to take this virtual walk, Eva. I am fond of Victorian architecture (I used to live in Victorian flats in San Francisco). Now I’d better go and take a real one to counteract the sweets I’ve baked in the last week. If I ever get to Toronto, I’ll go see Cabbagetown.
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Thank you kindly Sharyn, it was a great tour. I love the Victorian flats in San Fransisco, what a gorgeous city that is. I hope you do get to Toronto, it’s a way cool city.
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Thank you, Eva, for this wonderful, informative tour. It sounds like you are ready to be a tour guide now!
I must admit I have never had any tour in the city I live in… I think I should!
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Thanks so much Sissi. I wouldn’t mind doing tours except that my voice is the same decibel as noise and it just disappears!
It’s a cool thing to do in your own city!
Have a great week.
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What a great post Eva! I learned a lot about my own city. I’ve always wondered why that area was called Cabbagetown and now I know. I’d love to go on this tour, but I don’t imagine that it would hold the girls’ interest for that long.
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You’re right Barb, it would be too disruptive with the kids. Not sure if they have some specifically designed for families, you should check out their website.
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Sounds like that was a wonderful tour, Eva, one that I enjoyed taking with you. So many sections of the major cities across North America were built by/for the different waves of immigrants.Their histories always interest me. Thanks for taking us along.
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You are indeed very welcome, John. For us, it’s often we only do these little trips when we have out of town guests. It’s a lovely way to get to know one’s city. I’m certain Chicago has one too, I’ll check it out next time we’re downtown.
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Now I’ve learned so much more about Toronto. My great grand-father and his wife are from Limerick, Ireland and settled here in Alberta.. so this was fascinating for me to read. I’m one of the few who would have loved to live/own one of those cottages and not needed to add on to the back:) Sooo pretty and charming!!
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Thanks Barbara, our family cottage is on Limerick Lake, I suspect the name came from Ireland.
The walking tour was fantastic and informative; if you are ever in TO, check out their tour schedules.
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That’s cool! I will totally do those tours..
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What a great tour and how lovely for me to be able to see these parts of Toronto. I’m so glad efforts are being made to preserve the city, there’s nothing worse than seeing the character and the charm of yesteryear being bulldozed and replaced with ugly McMansions. So much of Sydney’s early history has been torn down because of shonky developers doing deals with corrupt councilors. It looks to me like you have a very pretty city with lots of history xx
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Thank you kindly Charlie. We have our own share of corrupt Councillors and I suspect it was the strength of the neighbourhood that brought the preservation society together and was able to be heard by government. I love your term McMansions, here we call them Monster Homes. I hope you have a chance to visit Toronto one day; I’ve lived here all my life and she still surprises me!
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Great writing. I was touring right along with you, A passionate, enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide makes a big difference.
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So glad you could join us, Norma. So true about your comment of the guide, Christopher was really a good one. I have to say, we usually have really good guides during these tours; I entirely attribute it to the fact that these folks are doing the tour from passion as opposed to earning minimum wage. We’re going to do another one in June, closer to home in an area called the Junction. It should be really cool.
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This tour had my head spinning – your writing was so vivid, your pictures perfect and I could imagine all the beauty, aura and mystery đŸ˜€
So enjoyable!
Yes I have taken a tour of The Rocks in Sydney, a haunted tour at night due to the number ghosts left from the convict days – most illuminating and mind blowing đŸ˜€
Great post my friend, happy you are enjoying yourself đŸ™‚
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thank you for you lovely and complimentary words CCU. I have not taken any haunted tours due to the fact that I have a vivid imagination and I would remember the scariest parts right when I’m going to sleep. I did take a daytime tour of Alcatraz in San Fransisco many years ago and recall quite vividly walking into one of the cells and having the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. Really really creepy. Haunted tours are just not for me.
PS thank you for linking your lovely blog to my Anzac post, that was indeed very kind of you.
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